I do not think it is going to shock anyone that T-mobile lost a number of customers due to the lack of a proper 3G network. Deutsche Telekom’s CFO Timotheus Hoettges says, “There is no question that we lost customers because many of our customers couldn’t get 3G. We now have to make sure that we can capitalize on the network in the top 10 cities where we have invested.” The really interesting statement from Hoettges is that there is no need for “further consolidation in the US”. This comes right at the time speculation is rampant over a possible merger with MetroPCS/Cricket/Budweiser/Sprint. Now the consolidation talk probably refers to a purchase/merger with one of the larger players, but it does not rule out gobbling up smaller, morelocalized competitors like MetroPCS. We hope that Deutsche Telekom continues to see T-mobile USA as a venture that has yet to realize its full potential and is willing to dedicate the time, money and resources to ensure that T-mobile capitalizes on the current wireless situation in the US. With Sprint fluctuating between alive and dead and AT&T and Verizon duking it out for first, it is a more than opportune time to strike with something that shakes things up. We wait to see if Project Black is indeed that strike.

About David Beren

David is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TmoNews.com. He considers himself a Jedi Knight, capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound and a connoisseur of fine cell phones. He has been involved in the wireless industry since 2003 and has been known to swap out phones far too many times in any given year. Should you wish to contact him, you can do so: david@tmonews.com.

i bet u T-Mobile USA feels like a biggo disappointment Deutsche Telekom to compared to the other countries which have a better established T-Mobile but idc im still never ever gonna leave T-Mobile even though we are quite behind everyone else it still kicks butt!!!

vwgtiron

I for one left. I was paying T-mobile 180 monthly for the HTC dash. Crappy edge service and lies from the engineering department that my troubles weren’t from their end. After finally speaking to tech department they admitted that their network was the problem and that no upgrades are scheduled for at least 2 years. Now i have the Hero on Sprint. My bill is 130 and I have better call quality, and service. Not to mention rev a, I for one am happy that I made the jump after 7 years with T-mobile and I will not be returning.
By the way all my calls to Sprint customer service have been great and pretty quickly handled.

Tom Furbulo

I know I left T-Mo because I couldn’t get 3G in a 3G area.

vwgtiron

oh yes those were 2 line plans

tmopayroll

^ I bet after Oct 25th you will want to switch back….

tato22

ALL OF U THAT LEFT WILL BE BACK AM IN MIAMI AND ALWAYS HAD 3G SO I CANT CRY ABOUT THE LAC OF 3G I ALWAYS HAD IT

g_willi

I’m pretty much only at T-Mobile until Verizon releases its new Android phones next month. There’s no T-Mobile 3G in my city even though we are bigger than half of the cities that do have 3G and were on the list for Q3 this year. I get nothing but incompetence when I call their customer support for anything remotely technical — I would rate their customer service worse than my cable company, Time-Warner (which is pretty much crap). Their EDGE service is spotty at best and there are a lot of areas in Ohio that don’t even have T-Mobile voice service. Verizon has much better coverage. Buh-bye T-Mo.

My 2 cents…

P.S. STILL NO 3G IN CINCINNATI!!! ARE YOU LISTENING T-MOBILE?!?!

MLB1906

And more will be living if Tmobile doesn’t get with it. All I am going to say is Storm 2!!!!!

Mark

I hope whatever they are planning for the Project Dark is a fully baked plan. It’s not enough to release the G1 when it was clearly not ready. Then the 3g service that was a key selling feature was not ready as well. I live in a supposed 3g area but seldom actually recieve the speeds. At some point coming up short is going to cost them customers.

MLB1906

sorry that’s “more will be leaving.”

David

No 3G in Oklahoma City either. Hello T-Mobile. Wake up or you are gonna lose more customers to your competition.

TMO Rep

My quest is… why do people that “leave” t-mobile still come on here to tell everyone that they did? I do agree that the lack of 3G has been an issue. Although, in our area AT&T has such overloaded towers that our EDGE runs about the same speed as their 3G.

TMO Rep

*question

A.Minor

Gee, Wondering How There’s 4G Talk When There Isn’t Even Proper 3G Coverage… One Step Before The Other.

Iasthia

I waited patiently for 3G and finally got it back in May. T-Mobile finally delivered on their promise to bring 3G to Wichita Falls, TX. Now the only major carrier that doesn’t have a 3G network here is AT&T.

Iasthia

Now all the people with iPhones are plodding along on EDGE and I’m streaming Pandora on 3G. HAHA!

wtf@tmobile

@A.Minor…EXACTLY

-ray

I bet more people left because the lack of grown-up smart phones.. Compare the Sholes to the Cliq… It amazes me how Tmobile could not go for the sholes..

JJ

After 9.5 yrs with Tmobile I switched over to AT&T yesterday, I must say there really is no comparison in 3G speeds. I wish TMobile all the Best of luck. as for me I an LOVING my new IPHONE!

Rochester

T-Mobile does not have any alternative to spreading their 3G coverage.They have paid for their lack of 3G coverage ( I cancelled my data service because of that) and they will continue to do so until they have 3G coverage comparable to their competitors.

http://www.reaperpcpda.com terryjohnson16

I agree with what the guy said. They were dumb to think that having only EDGE, and forcing people to go to Hotspot locations were going to solve their problems.

EDGE is not high speed data. It reminds me of Dial-up, in regards to speed vs having DSL and/or cable.

Now, it is coming back to haunt them, and they have no choice now but to do a speedy HSPA+ roll out.

MAXIMUS

Like…DUH!!!!! What did T-Mobile expect to happen? Did they really think people are willing to stuck around until they pulled their head out of their a$$? T-Mobile US could have stopped the mass exodus of customers if they had stopped being so slow and rolled out 3G service like the rest of the carriers. They acted as if no one would notice their lack of 3G and just hang around. Now they’re trying to dig themselves out of the hole they dug cuz the mothership isn’t pleased. As much as I hate saying this…but T-Mobile is reaping what they sowed. Hopefully not by Biblical proportions.

http://www.cnn.com Elrich

I left too and I love my iPhone — had it for a week now!

I’m glad to read that corporate Deutsche Telekom knows that the TMOUSA execs are a bunch of dumba$$es and need to get things straight!

I was a customer since 2003 and just left. Thought the TP2 would save TMOUSA but their dumba$$ pricing lost me. Plus no exclusivity on anything — the TP2, Android (couldn’t even get the most bad a$$ HTC Hero).

Forced me into an iPhone, and couldn’t be happier. Very impressed with it and I would have never known until I left. And I am a life long Apple hater who hates paying the a$$hole Apple tax (everything is marked up), and I hate Steve Jobs and hope he croaks soon of pancreatic cancer. If someone like me can love the iPhone, then, anyone can.

dave

does anyone have an invite for the Nov. 5 Blackberry Bold2 event in NYC?

http://www.six5one.com Ouch

I dont know why everyones crying about Tmobiles 3G coverage. It has worked fine here since way before the G1 came out(Minneapolis/St Paul). GTFO if you’re gonna cry.

timmyjoe42

How many customers are we talking about? Is it more leaving than coming?

smoker337

i have had an iphone on att but you know since jumping ship to tmo i can say i am much happier….i had a bb pearl 8120 and my speeds on that were faster then vzw…on 3g…now i have a mytouch and well i am nothing but happy with it…tmo has there problems but hey…i can call cs and talk through what i need to with them without ever having to touch foot in a store…and well…the 3g here in indianapolis is great…not a very big area but i get it where i work and live and well i am happy with it….

Crackbone

@TMOPAYROLL : Doubt it pal.

TMO can drop their rates to $50 a month, unlimited data, texts and voice, and I wouldn’t be back. After 8 years as a customer, I jumped. Best decision I ever made, and you know what, I can actually GET decent datarates. They are way too slow with their 3G rollouts, and where they have 3G coverage, it is spotty at best.

Maybe i’ll be back in a couple of years. Pricing is important, but voice and data coverage are also paramount. This is where T-Mobile fails.

Carlos

I don’t think the defection was ’3g’ driven, it was marketing…The biggest benefit to 3g Voice and data at the same time. it is really recently when people were using more powerful phones with more applications giving more capability, now makes a HUGE difference.

@tmopayroll what does that mean?

poningru

I would really like an explanation why femtocells are not provided to every subscriber (have the subscriber subsidize the equipment, with a ~$2 monthly fee).

I’ll throw in my ‘hmm I’ll take a shot at how tmobile can improve its coverage for essentially free’; free femtocells for every tmobile customer, as a requirement for people signing up with project black. I do not understand why every mobile phone provider doesnt do this, whether its with femtocell(kinda expensive) or something similar to tmobile @home(very cheap ~$30 per device, cost to tmobile).

e

“Lack Of 3G Network Led To Customer Fleeing”

How Interesting!!! this is why i left the carrier. I had 2 bars of 3G with t-mobile at my house that would usually turn to edge with my my touch. I had to constantly reset the damned thing multiple times a day and tried at-least 3 different sim cards from the store to try and make it better, nope!!!!!!. However my friend with an iphone 3GS came in and completely made me feel like a loser, not only did he say he had 850 mhz 3g (whatever the hell that means?????) but he had full service everywhere and on 3G. Freaking t-mobile couldn’t hold 3g around here for nothing. WE also did speed tests, we used “xtreme labs” app because its available on both iphone and android. Well after 3 tests i average 420kbs down and he averaged about 1.9 mbps! wtf!!! i was pissed and after doing page tests loading a bunch of sites his 3GS would finish well ahead of mine and i could never HOLD A GOD DAMNED CALL with t-mobile. I WAS ALWAYS DROPPING CALLS!!! it was unbelievable. Seriously, i decided that even though i would pay more per month i would atleast get what i was paying for. So low and behold him and I drove into boston that same day with my t-mobile account number and i got my 32 gig iphone 3gs and ported my number. Hell!! i bitched and moaned so much about t-mobile in the AT&T store that the manager gave me a free incipio case just to make me feel better lol. Long story short is that i would have stayed with t-mobile if their network and technology worked well!!!! sure i pay at&t a bit more, but it works amazingly well around here for the price. T-mobile had amazing customer service and i do miss it very much so, AT&t have good customer service IMO but no where near as good at t-mo’s. However good customer service can only help so much if the customer gets horrible cellular service. It’s like they are trained to let you down easily and keep you in their below mediocre service grasps. It’s pretty screwed up how a company can have such amazing customer service but such crappy cellular services in a lot of areas. I checked and experienced first hand, there are sooooooo many places and parts of busy highways here in Massachusetts/Rhode Island/ and New hampshire where t-mobile is weak or non-existent in terms of service. Sadly I’m not a very happy AT&T Mobility customer with an Iphone and i moved all the other lines on my t-mobile account to at&t mobility. The funny part is because the people on my family plan saw me have such great voice and data service with my iphone they all got data phones and smart phones that they now pay extra for which proves the demand is there and t-mobile isn’t satisfying the demand. My t-mobile bill was about 130 a month for 4 lines with unlimited fam texting and my data service. Now with AT&T after seeing how well my data worked i have 1 other iphone, 1 black berry bold, and 1 samsung jack and all are incredibly happy with their data and use it all the time. the new bill is now about 250 / month with all the data and texting we can consume and about 700 min with roll over. Everyone pays about $65/month and we are all extremely happy and take full advantage of our service in fact i believe we all use well over 1 gig/ month. Now thats about a $130 dollar difference a month that t-mobile is now not getting from me and my family plan. thats about $2880 over the 2 years difference. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that if you make a good product and service that people can use, they will pay for it. Now i know not everyone in the country is like me or comparable to my situation, but I’m sure there are lots of people out there who can relate. I’m not saying that at&t is all grand or they are the best carrier, but I’m saying all this to point out on what t-mobile is doing to a lot of their customers and what’s happening in return. T-mo i’m sorry, but your missing the point and hopefully you’ll get back on your A-GAME.

mfabela

i left but not bc of 3g i left for other reasons

Sgt. Cell

Well it’s time for T-Mobile to go big or go home.

Broke

Iasthia representing Wichita Falls! I thought my sis was kidding when she claimed there’s no At&T 3G in The Falls. I’m in a bigger city now and still no 3G! Consequently, I’m rethinking my loyalty since 2004 this time around. But, much congrats to you all. I’m envious ;)

Sprint on 042410

Yep, lack of 3G is why I’m with Sprint now. I do miss the very friendly CSR’s but sure don’t miss EDGE and since I haven’t had a problem with Sprint I have no idea if their CSR’s are friendly or not.

Anynomous

My contract ends in January with T-Mobile and I am considering leaving because of the lack of 3G in my area. Every other carrier here has a 3G or 4G network, and comparatively to what I pay, I could move over to Sprint and have a 4G network and unlimited mobile to mobile calling. Considering I mostly stay in the city or travel to other major cities, I probably would not have too many problems with Sprint’s coverage. Everyone I’ve talked to that has Sprint says its fine in the cities. I may miss the customer service of T-Mobile, but I really want the faster network for work and play. When I’ve been on travel and had 3G on my phone, the service was great and fast, but when I go back to EDGE it is so slow. I really do hope Project Black/Dark is a game changer with an increased network coverage and new plans.

The Dude

TMobile has been on my area for only a year and so far I love their voice service. I get full signal in places that Sprint, Claro and AT&T had little or no service. Now Im not a hardcore data user, and I sure would like 3G (PR is not even on the list for planned releases!) but I wouldnt leave a carrier just because of that, Im used to being left behind anyway! (also almost every other carier has a shitty service or plans around here)

http://tmonews gina dA gelatina

i agree with the dude i also live in puerto rico and t-mobile works waaaay better than at&t and sprint and claro over here in puerto rico. even if they dont have 3G. their edge is sooo much faster than at&t 3G..

Kevin

The lack of 3g is not all directly tmo’s fault. The bandwidth used is expensive and what tmo had to settle for in the budget depends upon emergency services leaving the spectrum used which I’m sure is not expediting things.

What irritates me and will probably make me jump to sprint soon is the data plans are not competitive with sprint. If the coverage was as good, if the data speed was as fast I’d still have to consider because the price is so much lower. In order to leave tmo I’ll have to pay an etf for my son’s G1, but economically if I have more than one data plan I can’t afford tmo. To add insult to injury the price is the same on any “smart” phone whether edge or 3g. If you need to settle for edge why pay 3g prices?

http://www.nmnetworkservices.com/ low voltage wiring

I am a t-mobile customer and I would like to see better 3G coverage but I guess I get what I pay for. I pay $50 a month less than the other big boys for my phone service for the unlimited package.

30014

Why do people say tmobile’s 3g is spotty at best? I live in suburban Atlanta and 3g is solid for 40 miles in all directions from the city center. Maybe the great coverage has to do with Atlanta being one of tmo’s top 10 markets. But whatever the reason coverage is solid. My only complaint is the 3g speed, even basic 3g should be faster.

RTB

Why is tmobile service so bad in NYC? Really.

delysid

For those complaining about T-Mobile and thinking of moving to a competitor, at least T-Mobile refused to give the NSA and the US government its caller’s data without a warrant. AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint (I believe Sprint did) with no questions asked. T-Mobile, being foreign-owned, still defended our right to privacy when American-owned companies gladly turned everything over.

Sweet

“However my friend with an iphone 3GS came in and completely made me feel like a loser, not only did he say he had 850 mhz 3g (whatever the hell that means?????)”

Thats about the dumbest shit I ever read, and I’ll even goes as far to tell you that I myself have written some dumb shit, but never that dumb. Your friend is a retard and you’re more retarded for listening to him. If you don’t know what the 850mhz means, (and your friend doesn’t either by the way), then you have no business making comments about 3G networks from any carrier. Talk about what you know… if you don’t know, then best just keep quiet.

http://www.cnn.com Elrich

By the way, I switched to AT&T and iPhone, and with my corporate employee discount, costs less than the comparable Touch Pro2 package I was looking at. I love my iPhone! Better coverage, better 3G (SoCal), better phone, better support, better apps, etc.! Good luck to you all!

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